Dad angry with Asda apology after son chokes on stone at cafe
Lee Fry took his six-year-old son Tyler to Asda in Bedhampton for breakfast at its cafe.
But when Tyler bit into a hash brown, he was left choking on a stone inside it.
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Hide AdLee was offered a £10 gift card as a gesture of goodwill after the incident, something which he has branded as ‘shocking’.
The 32-year-old said: ‘I’m not happy with Asda because I don’t feel like the matter has been taken seriously.
‘When Tyler started choking I slapped him on the back and the stone came out of his mouth with potato on it.
‘It was the size of a penny but a bit fatter – the situation could’ve been a lot worse.
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Hide Ad‘Tyler panicked and got upset, my wife had to explain to him what had happened, then he calmed down.
‘We spoke to the manager of the cafe who asked if he could send the object off to a supplier for testing.’
The incident happened in April and this month Asda contacted Lee to confirm the object was a stone.
The company offered the family a £10 gift card, apologised and said: ‘Stones are naturally present in the growing environment and it’s likely the foreign body has been harvested with the potatoes.
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Hide Ad‘There are stages throughout the process to remove foreign material but on occasion stones may penetrate potatoes, making detection difficult.’
The company said it would work closely with its supplier to ensure there would be no repeat of the incident.
Lee phoned Asda’s head office to complain, and was told staff there hadn’t been made aware of the incident.
The family were then offered another £10 gift card.
Lee added: ‘It’s shocking. We could’ve lost Tyler that day and we’ve been offered £20 in gift cards.
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Hide Ad‘The store has covered its own back and not told head office my son choked.
‘I want to make other parents aware of the situation.
‘The food needs to be checked more thoroughly.’
Lee refused to accept the second gift card.
A spokesperson for Asda said: ‘The safety of customers is our number one priority and we’re very sorry a small piece of stone was found in a hash brown.
‘While we’ve received no other complaints of this nature, we take concern about our products seriously and have conducted a full investigation into this incident.’